Valencia to Barcelona

On Thursday 28 May we had coffee and pastry for breakfast near the markets after we bought some fruit for the train trip to Barcelona. We’ve seen quite a few nice fruit shops but for some reason fruit rarely features on restaurant menus. We left the hotel at 10am and had lunch on the train.

In Barcelona Carlos led us on a walking tour of the city which included La Rambla and some of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí‘s works including:

• Lanterns in Royal Plaza (Spanish: Plaça Reial)
• Casa Milà, popularly known as ‘La Pedrera’ (the stone quarry), declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.
• Casa Batlló, locally known as ‘Casa dels ossos’ (House of Bones), is a house that was remodeled by Gaudí in 1904 and has been refurbished several times since. We went back again, following afternoon drinks, and paid to walk through it. Admission included the use of a small tablet device, like and iPhone, that gave a 360° “virtual tour” and commentary in most rooms.

On Friday 29 May we had a full morning visiting Sagrada Família, that is, Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family (Spanish: Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família) designed by Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). It is still under construction (and has been since 1882!) and in spite of the crowds feels more welcoming than most basilicas because it has much lighter stone work. In the afternoon the girls went back to Catalonia Park Putxet Hotel while I went to the Gaudí designed gardens, Park Güell. According to Wikipedia it was “built between 1900 and 1914 and was officially opened as a public park in 1926. In 1984, UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site under ‘Works of Antoni Gaudí'”. The whole tour group meet up for our last dinner together at Cuines de Santa Caterina restaurant in Santa Caterina Market.

Saturday 30 May was the last ‘day’ of the tour 😦 sad; breakfast was the last organised activity. Most of us had booked tickets to the Picasso museum. We had a tapas lunch together over the road from the Santa Caterina Market while watching some characters on the street, probably something to do with the foot ball finals; many people were in their colours.

We enjoyed the Intrepid tour from Madrid to Barcelona because we felt a little less like tourists being herded from one commission paying venue to another. That is because we were in a smaller group that travelled on public transport and of course Carlos who had lived in Australia and Spain knew the best of both cultures. We farewelled our new friends before the two of us headed of to our Airbnb accommodation. The tour had taken us east across southern Spain, we were now looking forward to heading west and seeing the top of Spain.

Palau de la Musica Catalana, Barcelona

Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Cuines de Santa Caterina restaurant in Santa Caterina Market, Barcelona

BBQ at AirBnB apartment at 442 Carrer de Muntaner, Barcelona

Casa Batlló (redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí), Barcelona

Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Park Guell, Barcelona

Towers of Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Barcelona

Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Football festivities, Barcelona

Towers of Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

View from AirBnB apartment at 442 Carrer de Muntaner, Barcelona

Lanterns by Antoni Gaudí on Plaça Reial, Barcelona

Towers of Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Park Guell, Barcelona

Cuines de Santa Caterina restaurant in Santa Caterina Market, Barcelona

Park Guell, Barcelona

Barcelona

Jesus and spanish on door of Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Casa Batlló (redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí), Barcelona

Casa Batlló (redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí), Barcelona

Towers of Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Park Guell, Barcelona

Festivities outside of Santa Caterina Market, Barcelona

Towers of Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Basilica de Santa Maria del mar, Barcelona

Towers of Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Cathedral of Barcelona

Casa Batlló (redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí), Barcelona

Park Guell, Barcelona

La Rambla, Barcelona

Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Football festivities, Barcelona

Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Girls in Valencia

Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Barcelona

Cordoba and Valencia

Cordoba

After a two-hour train ride on Monday 25 May we arrived at Cordoba (population: 325453), our only one night stop on the tour. We checked into Hostal Maestre (English: Master hostel) which is associated with Hotel Maestre a few doors up the street (read reviews).

The tourist ‘must see’ is the Mosque-cathedral of Córdoba (Spanish: Mezquita–catedral de Córdoba), for Catholics, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption (Spanish: Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción). Apparently it was a catholic church before the 700’s when Muslims conquered Spain and built a mosque on the site, then changed to a catholic church again in the 1200’s. In the 13 century it was converted to a Catholic church and enhanced by various kings into the 18th century.

There are orange trees just about everywhere in Southern Spain. We tried an orange to prove what we’d been told. They taste awful, they must be for marmalade.

That night Cheryl and I went for a bath and massage at the Turkish bath (Arabic: Hammam).

Valencia

On Tuesday 26 May we took three taxis to the train station. We backtracked to Madrid so we could get an express train, travelling at between 150 and 301kph, to Valencia (population 800000, third largest city in Spain). Along the way the train stopped to change the bogies to a different gauge.

Cheryl had been unwell so stayed in the hotel (Casual Hotel Florida, read reviews) room to rest while the rest of us had lunch and a walking tour of the city. Since the ‘Great Flood of Valencia’ in 1957 the Turia River was diverted around the city. The original course of the river has been turned into a huge park and the City of Arts and Sciences (Spanish: Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias), modern buildings, bridge and landscaping that form an eye-catching entertainment and cultural precinct. Our next stop was the Fallas Museum (Spanish: Muse Fallero) to see the amazing satirical papier-mâché sculptures, that had survived being burned in La Cremà, the climax of the annual festival.

Breakfast the next day was fartons (spongy or flaky, the ones we had were flaky) and churros with chocolate. A churro is a fried-dough pastry, according to wikipedia, predominantly choux based snack. “Churros are popular in Spain, France, the Philippines, Portugal, Ibero-America and the Southwestern United States. In Spain, churros can either be thin (and sometimes knotted) or long and thick. They are normally eaten for breakfast dipped in champurrado or café con leche.”

The whole tour group did the paella (the Spanish pronounce it as ‘pay ear’) cooking class. We started by going to the markets (read reviews) to buy the ingredients, including beans, rabbit, snails and saffron. The cooking class was a lot if fun especially since it included wine and tapas while we waited for the paella to reduce, until the ‘socarrot‘ formed, then eating the paella.

Cheryl and I caught a local bus that afternoon and had a quick look at the beach.

Tren from Madrid to Valencia, Spain

Train station in Valencia, Spain

Menu of the day in Valencia, Spain

Menu of the day in Valencia, Spain

Valencia, Spain

Valencia, Spain

Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Spain

Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Spain

Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Spain

L Umbracle in Valencia, Spain

L Hemisfric and Museu de les Ciencies in Valencia, Spain

L Hemisfric pond in Valencia, Spain

Valencia, Spain

Fallas Museum in Valencia, Spain

Fallas Museum in Valencia, Spain

Valencia, Spain

Markets (before cooking class) in Valencia, Spain

Markets (before cooking class) in Valencia, Spain

Snails in Valencia, Spain

Markets (before cooking class) in Valencia, Spain

Markets (before cooking class) in Valencia, Spain

Markets (before cooking class) in Valencia, Spain

Markets (before cooking class) in Valencia, Spain

Paella cooking class in Valencia, Spain

Paella cooking class in Valencia, Spain

Paella cooking class in Valencia, Spain

Paella cooking class in Valencia, Spain

Paella cooking class in Valencia, Spain

Ronda

On Saturday 23 May we caught the 11:00 bus from Tarifa to Algeciras (same route as yesterday but without continuing to La Linea) where we boarded the train for Ronda. Ronda (population 36827) is 100km west of Málaga and was the picturesque highlight of the tour. Ronda was first settled by the early Celts in the 6th century BC; like everywhere is Spain there is plenty of history. In the seventeen and eighteen hundreds the Romero family (according to andalucia.com) popularised the modern artistic style of bull fighting. More recently American artists Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles spent many summers in Ronda.

After breakfast on Sunday 24 May the girls and I paid for entry to three local sights:

• At the “Palace of the Moorish King” (building is closed) is Forestier’s hanging gardens and the Water mine, a 300 step descent inside the ravine, used by “Christian [slaves of], Ronda’s Moorish king, Abomelik” (andalucia.com) to carry water up to the city.
• Ronda’s bull ring (Spanish: Plaza de Toros) and museum was were the modern artistic style of bull fighting started. An interesting section in the museum was about duelling, in the 19th and 20th centuries, to maintaining ones honour. It explained the duelling ‘rules’ for pistols (to first blood, serious injury or death; number of paces etc) and displayed special pairs of ornamental duelling pistols. Some participants would fire into the air to finish the duel (Delope) with honour and safety.
• Lara museum (Spanish: Mvseo Lara) an eclectic mix of collectables; the torture implements used for the inquisition was disturbing. It is terrible what has been done in the name if a loving God by the Catholic church, although it seems that the inquisition was more for political and material gain and, according to Wikipedia, “the Spanish Inquisition is often cited in literature and history as an example of Catholic intolerance and repression. Modern historians have tended to question earlier and possibly exaggerated accounts concerning the severity of the Inquisition” (read more commentary).

We’d had coffee and cake before we went to the bull ring, so we did not stop for lunch, we went on a walk to the valley floor. On the way back I explored some tracks along the face of the ravine and ended up at an abandoned hydroelectric plant about 20 metres from the base I the water mine we’d seen in the morning.

Later, as we walked to dinner, we saw a procession for “Maria auxiliadora ayudame” (Mary Help of Christians). Dinner was at a nondescript upstairs restaurant at the end of town near Puerta de Carlos V. But as Carlos assured us it was to be the best dinner of the trip. Presentation of the tapas was amazing, we kept ordering and ate too many. We tried a glass of Sangria here. Carlos gave the same advice that I had read, generally don’t order Sangria (especially in touristy locations) because it is not authentic and made from cheap ingredients. Summer wine (Spanish: Tinto Verano), is similar and usually authentic and cheaper. It was a late night back to our accommodation at Hotel Morales (Read reviews).

Renfe train in Algeciras, Spain

Ronda, Spain

Puente Nuevo bridge in Ronda, Spain

Jamon in Ronda, Spain

Ronda, Spain

Puente Nuevo in Ronda, Spain

Ronda, Spain

Ronda, Spain

Rio Guadalevin in Ronda, Spain

Puente Arabe o de San Miguel (or Romano) in Ronda, Spain

Arab baths in Ronda, Spain

Plaza de Toros and museum in Ronda, Spain

Puente Nuevo over Rio Guadalevin in Ronda, Spain

Mary the helper parade in Ronda, Spain

Tinto verano in Ronda, Spain

Palacio del rey Moro (Forestiers) hanging gardens in Ronda, Spain

Puerta de Felipe V and Puente Viejo in Ronda, Spain

Tarifa and Gibraltar

We had a three hour bus ride on Thursday 21 May, from Seville to Tarifa (population 17793) the southernmost point of the European continent, well known as a good location for wind surfing. It was windy and cool, the average May temperature is 16 degrees Celsius according to holiday-weather.com.

We stayed at Hostal Las Margaritas but walked to the old town for a steak dinner followed by Majitos at the cocktail bar next door. Then a few of us went to an exhibition of paintings and heard a local African sing who was advocating for immigrants, an issue here since it is only 15km from Spain to Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar.

After breakfast on Friday 22 May, we used the laundromat and rushed to catch the bus for an afternoon visit to Gibraltar. The bus left at midday and made a stop at Algeciras (population 116917) and smaller places along the way, before we got off at la Linea then walked across the border. I was so caught up in getting through the queue and having my passport ready that I did not get any photos of the rock (only views from the rock, click any image below to see it full size).

Gibraltar (population 30000, plus about 10000 commute into the city for work and school every day) is a British Overseas Territory, but the locals proudly call themselves Gibraltarians not Spaniards nor Britons. We paid 23 British Pounds for a mini bus tour of the rock. We sat in the van for a while waiting for a plane to land so we could cross the airstrip to town. The first stop was the Pillars of Hercules, the views were fantastic.

Next we saw St Michaels cave, complete with theatre seating for 400. Plaques stated proudly that Queen Elizabeth II visited in 1954. We stopped as close to the top as allowed and took photos of the monkeys (known locally as Barbary Apes) which cunningly extract food from tourists or break pieces off vehicles.

The final stop was the Great Siege Tunnels. Drilling started in 1782 during the Great Siege, continued after and more extensively during the Second World War (read more). It would have been good to have taken the cable car up then walked down to points of interest that we missed, and explore the old town and high street, but we did not have enough time. it was a very good afternoon, we were all glad we’d made the visit.

 

Breakfast in Seville, Spain

Road house cafe on the way to Tarifa, Spain

Tinto de Verano drinks in Tarifa, Spain

Tapas lunch in Tarifa, Spain

Windy seaside in Tarifa, Spain

Frog fountain in Tarifa, Spain

Tarifa, Spain

English phone booth in Gibraltar

Gibraltar harbour

St Michaels cave in Gibraltar

Gibraltar harbour

Monkeys in Gibraltar

Monkeys in Gibraltar

Monkeys in Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Siege tunnels in Gibraltar

Siege tunnels in Gibraltar

Plane taking off from Gibraltar